Spring Sunday in 1944

“Got word today that Frank McGugan was killed on Friday. I feel wretched tonight.”

An excerpt from my Mom’s Diary, Lorraine Butters Boyle, age 17, April 23, 1944

LEST WE FORGET

23           Sun. The girls were outside quite a bit. I wrote an essay this morn for Miss Cardwell. Took a few pictures. Tried desperately to study Literature, but Miss Farrell came over about 3.30, so I couldn’t do it. The girls had made ice-cream. Miss F. Stayed for supper. Got word today that Frank McGugan was killed on Friday. I feel wretched tonight. Didn’t get to bed til after 10.

From Aunt Wilma: Frank was the eldest of the 4 McGugan boys.  He was a pilot, gunned down in the second WW.  He was the only one that did not survive.  Pilot was last to evacuate. The whole community was devastated, as they always were when any sadness occurred.  I was too young to know Frank.  Knew all the other boys.

(Index To All Diaries)

These are the diaries of a seventeen-year-old teenager from a farm near Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Her name is Lorraine. She eventually was a church organist in Colgate. In 1944 she was the piano player for a dance band in Weyburn. In these days before school busses she, and her sisters, each had to move from the farm into town to attend school for Grades 11 & 12. This is the darkest time in World War II. Weyburn hosted an airbase for BCATP (British Commonwealth Air Training Plan). In other words, the town is filled with eligible young airmen from all over the world …